Five persons arrested in BSP leader K. Armstrong’s murder case, including prime accused Ashwathaman, walked out of prison on Wednesday as a court granted conditional bail to 12 accused.
A gang of assailants posing as food delivery personnel murdered Armstrong at Perambur on July 5, 2024.
Life-convict Nagendran, his son Ashwathaman, Ponnai Balu, G. Arul, and D. Ramu, alias Vinodh, were among the 27 persons arrested in connection with the case. Nagendran died of an illness last month.
The Madras High Court quashed the charge-sheet filed by the Sembium police in the murder case, and ordered the CBI to investigate it afresh. Aggrieved over this, the State government filed a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court. A total of 26 accused moved the Principal Sessions Court, seeking bail on the ground that the case was yet to be taken up by the CBI, and further detention was illegal.
P. Muthamizh Selvakumar, counsel for the accused, cited the decision of the top court in V. Senthil Balaji Vs. Directorate of Enforcement, wherein the court observed that a long period of incarceration would impede the right of the accused to a fair trial.
In the present case too, the petitioners have undergone incarceration for about 16 months, and there are 237 witnesses cited by the prosecution. Therefore, it would take a considerable amount of time to complete the trial, as the witnesses would be subjected to cross-examination by the counsel engaged by the accused. If the top court approves the transfer of the investigation to the CBI, the trial is likely to get delayed further, counsel said.
After considering the arguments, Principal Sessions Judge S. Karthikeyan granted bail to 12 accused, including Ashwathaman, who was mentioned as accused no. 2 in the case. The judge also imposed stringent conditions on the accused, besides directing them to execute sureties. They should not go on the run, and should co-operate with the trial till the disposal of the case, the judge said. Ashwathaman and four others were released from prison on Wednesday as they executed sureties.
Published – November 13, 2025 12:11 am IST
